Pen



Feb. 23 1926.

J. C. WAHL PEN Filed Nov. 7, 1921 Patented Feb. 23, 1926.

v I 1,574,266 UN ED STA ES PATENTQFFI E- JOHN C. WAHL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO'THE WAI-IL CHICAGO, ILLINOISQA CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

COMPANY, or

PEN.

Application filed November 7, 1921. Serial No. 513,231.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that JOHN C. lVAI-IL, a citizen of the United States of America; residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook 6 and State of Illinois, has invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pens, of which the following isa specification. fMy invention relates to. fountain I pens. v The invention is directed speciallytothe mechanism for deflatingxthe ink sack ofa fountain pen. y l The invention comprehends structure and co-relationship of a spring bar, a pressure bar and a lever functioning undernormal or inactive condition to hold the pressure bar in complete reliefof the ink sack and also to hold the lever in firm closed position and under active conditions (those pertaining to expelling of ink from the ink sack) that thelever in action shall be at all times under an active-closing tension exerted by the spring member. Y Other objects of my invention will appear in the following with the annexed drawing in which: t Fig. 1 is a longitudinalsectional view of the pen showing the special fi ling means in its normal or retracted position. 1

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view showing in detail the mechanism in itsraised or operating position; f

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the lever showing in detail the special mounting thereof on the pen barrel. 1 I Fig. 43 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 4l4 of Fig. 2.

The parts that go to make up the filling.

devices of fountain pens are necessarily very small and fragile and from my experience in connection with the manufacture of fountain pens utilizing such filling devices, :I

have found that the levers need to be protected against undue violence in operating them. Positive stops and short arm lever action, from my experience, are to be avoided and to that end I have designed a' filling device wherein in the action for depressing the ink sack'the lever is at no time brought to a positive stop but at alltimes is under the resilient tension of a spring which tension at the designed maximum opening action of the lever is put under-the buckling action of spring as distinguished from its normal tensioning; force. Furthermore, in developing my improved structure specification in connection the retarding force upon the lever is .at its,

extreme outer end and by thus extending the armof the'lever from its fulcru'med or pivoted point to its end as much aspos'sible'the strain thereon is such as to minimize the strain upon its pivotal support."Tl1'e structure is designedns' an improvement over filling devices'wherem positive stop'sareem- .ployed to limit the opening. action of the lever and where such stops arearrangedto activelyengage the lever arm intermediate its end and comparatively close tothe pivoting point of said lever. 1 I

Referring to' the drawings, there is shown generally a pen a of conventional construction, with the main portionfof which we are not specially concerned, inasmuch as the invention is directed mainly to the specialfilb ing mechanism. -A't -10 is shown the pen barrel, said barrel having at its open end the exteriorly threaded portion 11." F rictionally'mounted within the open end of'said barrel is a pen section designated generally as 12, said section having the portion'13 frictionallyv engaging'the 'barrel 10 and an ink sack 15 attached thereto and extending within the body of'the barrel l0, havingan abutment shoulder l6'which prevents the pen section from being inserted beyond, itsfnormal -depth within thebarrell 'A'cap'16 having the interiorly' threaded portion 17' is adapted forthreaded engagementwith the barrel 10;. The cap 16 is of conventional form and has the member 18 therein for housing the pen point and forming a tight connection with the upper portion of the pen section. The customary clip19 is suitably attached tothe cap. The specialfilli'ng 7 device is made up ofthe following elements.

An annular ring frictionally engaging'the inner wall of the pen barrel is shown at 20,

said ringhaving a spring or y'ieldable'bar 21 extendingforwardly and downwardly therefrom; the spring bar 21 being positioned in a positive manner within the barrel. This connection is made by inserting the outer end 'ofthe spring barina depressed portion of said ring as at 22. "'Fixe'dly attached to "the forward end of the spring bar, as shown at 23, is a pressure bar124. The pressure bar 2a is made of non-resilient material and extends substantially the length of m nu:

" sack or-reservoir within the barrel. The barrel 10', has a longitudinalslot 25, a11cl piyot; edly mountedgat 26 is a special lever designated generally as 27. The outer end of the lever has the cap portion 28, engaging the depression 29 inthe barrel when disposed in its normal position. The-body portion of. the lever is fashioned, as may be seen in Fig. 1 in such a manner that when the lever is in its normal position it will project but slightly above the surface of the pen barrel. lhe inner or operating end of the lever when actuated projects through a longitudinal slot 30, in the spring bar and has its rounded end portion 31 abutting the pres sure bar. The lever is formed in one sidc with an inclined recess as at 32, thereby providing a cam surface. A raised portion 33, is shown on the pressure bar 24; said portion conforming to the arcuate shape of the inner end 310i" the lever.

The operation of the pen and filling device is as follows: p H

As shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, the pen parts are in their normal positions and, as is well known, the filling the ink sack or reservoir of a pen of this type is accomor v I plished by deflation or said reservoir, whereby, upon inflation the ink is forced into the sack or reservoir. This is accomplished by raising the lever 27 to the elevated position shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, whereby the pressure bar 24: is forced downward upon said sack under yielding tension due to theretarding action of thespring bar 21. As has been said before, the object of my invention is to provide a filling mechanisnr whereby, under all" conditions attending the deflation action, the lever will be acted upon by the spring member in such manner as to tend to force it always to its normal or closed position. The above result is accomplished as followsz As the rounded inner end of the leverg ,'radually forces the pressure bar against the ink sack or reservoir, it will, of course, press itdownward- 13 but when the lever has assumed the position shown in the dotted line position'in Fig. 2, the cam portion 32 thereof will abut the spring bar 21, said lever having already traversed the entire length of longitudinal slot 30 in the lever. Further u award move ment of the lever to its raised position as shown in Fig. 2 will cause a depression of the spring bar from the dotted line position shown in Fig. 2 to its final position shown in full lines. 7 v

It will be observed that the final movement ofthe lever (that is when the cam surface 32 thereon is brought in contact with the wall of slot 30 in spring 21) that its opening movement is brought under the severe resisting strain resulting from a buckling or depressing of said spring member and if the movement is continued it is brought to a final stop by the engagement of its lower end with cam lug 33 on the pressure bar, so that under normal conditions of operation, the operator will note the extra pressure attending the resistance of the buck ling action of the spring upon the lever and will release it, but any abnormal or unnecessary pressure applied to the lever will firinly be resisted by the cam lug 33 on the pres sure bar so that in operation the lever is never stopped by the wall of the slot in the spring thereby preventing a short lever action or strain on the lever, but, if such extra and unnecessary pressure is applied, the stop force is on the extreme end of the lever thereby lessening the danger of breakage, either of the lever or its pivot. Also, it will be noted that the arcuate shape of the lever end and the conforming shape of the stop lug on the pressure bar will induce a tendency of the lever, when released, to be moved towards the closed position, also, that the cam portion on the body of the lever that contacts with the rear wall of the. slot in the spring, if said lever is moved far enough to buckle the latter, will also act to move the leverto its closed position, so that, under all circumstances of operation there can be no positive locking of the lever in open position.

Thus we see that by raising the lever to its upward position the ink reservoirmay be depressed, however, unless the linger is actually held against said lever in its upward-position it will immediately be thrust back to its former or normal position.

'What I- claim is 1. A fountain pen, in combination, the casing having a longitudinal slot therein, a pressure bar, a spring bar suitably secured in connection with said casing and attached to the pressure bar and provided with a centrally located slotgtherein, a' lever pivoted in the slot in the casing and capable of pro jection through the slot in the spring memher and into contact relation with the pres sure bar, including a fashioning of a portion of the lever and relative arrangement thereof with reference to the slot in the spring, whereby, in the course of raising the lever to its open position, a portion thereof will be projected through the slot in the spring member and by contact with a wall of the slot as the lever nears its open position will induce gradual deflection and buckling action of the spring member whereby a tensioned stop for the lever will be effected and a resilient force will be developed to cause the lever to be returned to closed position.

2. In combination with a fountain pen, having a. barrel section with a longitudinal slot therein, a compressible ink sack within said barrel having a lever fulcrumed in said slot, a pressure bar, a spring bar attached at its forward end to said pressure bar and firmly positioned within thebarrel section at its outerendg-said spring bar having a slot therein, and means including a cam surface on said lever whereby said lever has a tendency to be forced always towards its closed position.

3. In a fountain pen, in combination, a casing provided with a longitudinal slot therein, a compressible ink sack inserted within said casing, ink sack compressing means including a pressure bar, a spring membersuitably supported within the easing and functioning to normally hold the pressure bar in close relation with the inner wall of the casing and over the slot therein, said spring member being provided with a slot through the body thereof, and a lever pivotally supported in the casing slot, the rear portion of its inner end being fashioned to produce a cam surface thereon, said lever in its opening action adapted to project through the slot in the spring member and to contact with the pressure bar, and, approximating the limit of 1ts opening act on, its cam face adapted to function with the wall of the slot in the spring member to buckle the latter for stop purposes and to induce a return action to the lever to normal position when the lever is released.

4. In a fountain pen, in combination, a casing provided with a longitudinal slot therein, a compressible ink sack inserted within casing,ink sack compressing means including a pressure bar having an arcuate faced lug thereon, a spring member suitably supported within the casing and functioning to normally hold the pressure bar in close relation with the inner wall of the casing and over the slot therein, said spring member being provided with a slot through the body thereof,.and a lever pivotally supported in the casing slot arcuately formed at its lower end conformitory to the arcuate shape of the lug on the pressure bar, the rear portion of its inner end being fashioned to produce a cam surface thereon, said lever in its opening action adapted to project through the slot in the spring member and to contact with the pressure bar, and, ap-

proximating the limit of its'openingaction,

its cam face adapted to function with the wall of the slot in the spring member to buckle the latter for stop purposes and to induce a return action to the lever tonormal position when the lever is released. 5 .111 a pen, in combination, a casing, provided with a longitudinal slot therein, an ink reservoir therein, a slotted spring member supported in connection with the body of the casing and normally lying in contact with the inner wall of the latter, a pressure bar connected therewith, and a lever pivotally associated with the opening in the casing and co-related to the pressure bar to depress the same, and fashioned to co-operate with the spring and pressure bar to cause the former to buckle under certain conditions of force applied at the conclusion of the openingmovement to form a yielding stop and to give initial impetus to the lever to return it to normal position. 6. In combination, with a fountain pen, having a hollow casing with a slot extendring longitudinally thereof, and a lever fulcruined insaid slot, a compressible ink reservoir inserted within said casing, of means operable independent of said reservoir and within said casing for firmly holding said lever in *close'd position, and for operation in conjunction with said lever for compressing the ink reservoir, including means for buckling a member of said means to give said casing, .a spring suitably supported within the casing, a pressure bar connected with the free end of the spring member, a lever pivoted within the pen body and fashioned for co-operation with the spring member and the pressure bar, that when the lever is actuated, the pressure bar will be depressed, and a continuation of such relative ,co-action will cause a buckling of the spring member to provide a yielding stop and to facilitate initial impetus in the closing movement of the lever.

8. In a pen, in combination, a casing, an inkreservoir therein, a spring member supported in the casing, a pressure bar connected with the free end of the spring member andinormally lying in the same transverse planc, and a lever for depressing the pressure bar, said lever being so fashioned as to co-act in conjunction with said pressure-bar and spring in a manner to effect a buckling of the latter under certain tension, to, provide a yielding stop and to give impetus tothe lever to return to its normal closed position.

9. In a fountain pen, a casing having an opening in its side wall, a lever pivotally mounted for movement in said opening, an ink reservoir, a spring supported in the casing and normally tending to move toward the side wall of the same, a pressure bar connected with said spring, the lever upon being moved towards open position pressing the pressure bar inwardly against the tension of the spring, but without substantially contacting the spring, the lever when nearing its open position contacting with the spring to put it under further tension to provide a yielding stop and to create an, initial impetus to the closing of the lever when released. V

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

JOHN G. WAHL. 

